ROOM 211

PART TWENTY NINE

34.

A time to gather and a time for discussion is very much necessary so keeping Mandy fully in the loop she joins Henry, Archer, Bonnie, Sue, Blue and Red, Maggie and William, and so a gathering it is, back in room 211.

'So ...' speaks Henry once again taking charge. Archer still doesn't like this but for the moment has to go with it. 'We have a bit to get through. Briefly and first of all, I do apparently have a family, a wife and two children and it does more than just seem to check out. I am not going anywhere yet though. I am with you all, I haven't lied, I have lost my memory like each of you apart from our coffee house friend.'

'You lied about the money ...' says Blue.

Archer wanted to mention that though again he keeps quiet and calm.

'No, I didn't lie about that, I just didn't mention it. It could have come from anywhere and this might still be true but yeah, it is likely it may have something to do with what is happening to each of us. I was afraid of spending any of it in case I had ripped someone off but what the hell? We'll use it to see us through for as long as it lasts and worry about any possible consequence at another time. There are at least two other pieces of news to bring up but before we do, does anyone else have anything worthy of mentioning here and now ...?'

'Nothing maybe worthy' says Sue, 'I briefly saw someone who may be somewhat familiar while I was sitting down in the lobby. I have no idea why he may be familiar. With my feet as they are I couldn't really go investigate ...'

'Right then' continues Henry, '... that's probably for the best. We don't want to invite danger if we can help it ... still. We will need to keep our eyes open for any possible external recognition. There may be those near who will recognize us so we all must watch out for that. If something comes along and needs to be dealt with, then we'll do what we can and keep each other in the loop. Anyone else got anything?'

'Yeah' says William. 'I am, as it would appear, missing. When I went walking about town, I noticed plenty of flyers posted. I am just sixteen, so the flyers say, that means I am a child. I feel as if I am older but how and ever. There are numbers given on the flyer to call ...'

The room is silently quiet as William speaks; this certainly is news.

'... Bonnie wasn't the only one to wake in a bed. I woke in one too. Not knowing anything I got scared. In a bedroom of a house is where I woke. There was a woman in the house. I didn't see her, but she kept calling out for someone named William. It may have been me she was calling out for; I might be her son, but I just don't know. I freaked and just left. Since I haven't gone back, I guess she reported me missing.'

'So ...' considers Henry. 'What do you want to do William?'

'What choice do I have?'

'You can stay with us and hope we find answers soon but that means hiding in here, right here in this room. We wouldn't be able to risk you being found, things might really begin to fall apart, or maybe you can go find your own answers. Chance bringing her in on the loop. If that woman is you mother, then she is family ...'

'You will be staying here away from your family?' William asks of Henry.

'Yes, I have discussed it with my ... my wife, as odd as that seems to me. I told her I need to find answers. She wants answers too, so ...'

'Alright, then I stay here too, and keep quiet for a while.'

'Good ... anyone else got anything they would like to bring up?'

The room is quiet, so Henry continues.

'Right, as you know, Archer, and Mandy, along with myself, went to the hospital to check in and to see Sander's body. He is gone, disappeared. His body is not in the hospital morgue. Hospital security staff are reviewing cameras so if and when they have anything to tell, they promised to keep us updated.'

This is surprising and worrying though another bombshell is about to be dropped so once the murmurs around the room quiet down a little, Henry once again continues.

'It is possible that we have all been brought together due to an illness of sorts or something along that kind of line. While I was with my wife, I was informed that I had Motor Neuron Disease and it had really been taking a hold of me. The effects of Motor Neuron are clear to see, and I am not showing any effects of it now or since I woke with memory loss.'

'So, what is it?' asks Archer. 'Are you saying something was done to us?'

'You know yourself Archer, there was something in Sander's head, maybe we all have it, or something like it. It might explain why I appear to be fit and healthy, I don't know ...'

'We are experiments?'

'Maybe, I don't have any memory or extremely little anyhow from prior to my field waking moment. Whatever ailment I had; it seems to be gone.'

'I don't know if that is supposed to be disturbing, worrying, or reassuring' says Maggie, 'but I woke in a cab as I have told you guys already. It brought me here ...'

'The woman who put you in the cab, she might be in on whatever it is that happened to us.'

'How did you know a woman put me in that cab?' Maggie asks Henry.

'I got a cab from my apparent home back here earlier' responds Henry, 'and it so happened to be the same cab and driver you had. He told me of a strange cab fare he had, which so happens to be your trip here.'

'There is something else' says Maggie, 'before I woke in the cab ... I had a dream, well I thought it might have been a dream but perhaps it is a memory. I was strapped to a table. There was a man and a woman. They injected me with something, something that might be alive. Whatever they injected into me, it was moving under my skin.'

'This might make sense' says Archer. 'If we all have that thing Sander had in his head in our own heads, then with no surgery it may be possible something was injected into us and somehow made its own way onto our brains?'

So much to think about, so much to consider, it could be considered that things are moving forwards but there still is so much unknown that nothing can really be determined but then with what Bonnie is about to say really throws a spanner into things.

'Henry, you got the first bed, I got the second and Sue got the third ... only we were other people.'

'What do you mean by that Bonnie?' asks Henry.

Bonnie begins to have another of her moments. 'The room with the eight beds ...' she says before going quiet and she says no more, for the moment, nothing else will come.